DUBAI: Wataniya Airways has restarted its operation from Tuesday, July Theaielinestoped its operation in 2011. Wataniya halted operations after three years in business due to its financial situation and political instability in the Middle East. The Kuwaiti airline restarted with a scheduled service on July 11 to Tbilisi, Georgia, Wataniya will also resume flights to Baku, Azerbaijan and Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina this week. The airline has the backing of Al Tuwaijri Group with capital of 10 million dinars ($33.01 million). The company expects to double its capital to 20 million dinars after flights resume. Wataniya is using two narrow-bodies…
Author: holidayweekly
American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines now have 17 members of the Illinois’s congressional delegation on board urging President Donald Trump to address alleged trade violations by three Middle East-based carriers; Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways, all of which fly from their respective hubs in the Middle East region to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. United, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines have been very vocal in their claims that the three Middle East airlines are violating their Open Skies agreement with the United States and claim that the governments of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar have…
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Pakistan Railways with the cooperation of China will upgrade track from Karachi to Peshawar and increase the number of trains besides speed on various routes. Under the agreement signed between China and Pakistan, number of trains would increase from 32 to 171 while work on upgradation of railway line from Karachi to Peshawar would also be completed to facilitate the passengers, the Director General Public Relations of Pakistan Railways said while talking to the State-run Pakistan Television. The director general said that Pakistan Railways would also increase speed of trains from 65 kilometer per hour to 100 kilometer…
International Air Transport Association (IATA) Resolution 753 comes into effect in June 2018, giving Pakistani and all other airports in the world just one year to ensure their baggage handling systems are compliant. The resolution aims to reduce the number of lost or delayed pieces of baggage by keeping track of them at every stage of their journey. This will lead to a better customer experience and reduce the costs involved in tracing, retrieving and delivering missing or delayed bags. To comply with IATA Resolution 753, airports must monitor the acquisition and delivery of bags at the three specified events:…
BANGKOK: The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) forecasts revenue of 3.1 trillion baht (US$ 9.1 billion) in tourism revenue in 2018 by attracting tourists from second-tier Chinese and European cities and focusing on tourist quality, says Governor Yuthasak Supasorn. The industry has remained sluggish during the last two quarters, but the plans are expected to lay the groundwork for continued growth in 2017 and 2018, Mr. Yuthasak said. “Moving forward, the TAT will draw focus on increasing the number of quality tourists,” he said. “We project the tourism industry will bring in 3.1 trillion baht in revenue in 2018 –…
MANAMA: Gulf Air, Bahrain’s national carrier, recently celebrated its newly renovated IT Data Centre achieving tier 3 standard compliance classification. As part of the celebration, Gulf Air chief executive officer Maher Salman Al Musallam visited the IT Data Centre, formally inaugurating the upgraded facility which allows the airline to ensure that their hosted mission-critical services are continuously available. Speaking at the event, Al Musallam said: “Gulf Air’s business relies heavily on the reliability, availability and stability of its IT services, and as a result, upgrading our IT Data Centre was a priority for the airline. I’m delighted with what we…
SINGAPORE: Sabre Corporation, a leading technology provider to the global travel industry, announces the development of an AI-powered chatbot that leverages Microsoft Bot Framework and Microsoft Cognitive Services, a set of tools that organizations can use to add intelligent and conversational features to their applications, including Language Understanding Intelligent Service (LUIS). Two Sabre-connected travel agencies, Dallas-based Travel Solutions International USA and San Francisco-based Casto Travel will test a white-label version of the chatbot with travelers, who will access the chatbot via Facebook Messenger. Travelers will use the chatbot for common service and support requests, such as changing an existing flight…
KARACHI: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has withdrawn its warning about putting the Makli necropolis, a world heritage site, on its list of ‘endangered’ sites, claimed the culture ministry of Sindh in a statement on Wednesday, 12 July. The site was likely to be declared ‘endangered’ by UNESCO with reports about the historical necropolis crumbling fast. The original February deadline, however, was extended after active efforts to protect the site by the provincial government. The Ministry said that the Sindh Culture Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah attended the Unesco World Heritage Committee’s 41st session at Krakow,…
LONDON: The World Economic Forum ranked 136 countries in its biennial tourism report with one section focusing on safety and security. In it the UK has gone from the 63rd position to 78th. Though India and Pakistan are amongst the 20 most dangerous countries for tourists, Pakistan, at 133rd position, is also amongst the four most dangerous. Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq are not included in the list. The list doesn’t take into account petty crime, and instead focuses on risks related to serious harm (violence and terrorism). The latest results have come in a year in which Britain has been hit…
GILGIT: In a bid to tackle hazardous solid waste generated by hospitals in the tourist-seeking, scenic, mountainous region, the Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Hafeez ur Rehman on Thursday directed officials quickly dispose of such waste through incinerators and set up waste management system at all hospitals in the region. The Chief Minister said that initially, incinerators had been set up in seven districts of the region, however, these facilities would be opened up to hospitals in the remaining three districts of the region as well. He directed the concerned department to devise a monitoring system for this purpose. He issued…